As we get closer to the June 3rd release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on the Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo has updated its Japanese My Nintendo page to reveal that it will weigh in at 102 GB. Interestingly, the European version of the website lists the title at 91.5 GB, which indicates that the ultimate file size of the RPG’s Switch 2 still isn’t final yet.
It is worth noting that either of the file sizes would still end up making Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth the largest game on the Nintendo Switch 2, taking the role from Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, Split Fiction, and Cyberpunk 2077 Special Edition, which weigh in at 90.4 GB, 71 GB, and 60 GB, respectively.
The large file size also means that players won’t really get the choice of getting their hands on a physical copy of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on the Nintendo Switch 2, which contains all of the game’s data on the cartridge. Rather, the physical release will end up being a Game-Key Card, since the title is much larger than even the largest-sized game kart offered by Nintendo.
Director Naoki Hamaguchi has spoken about Game-Key Cards in the past, and while he noted that the Nintendo Switch 2 audience would have preferred the full game to be on the kart, performance and storage constraints prevented Square Enix from being able to fit the entire game into it.
“There’s simply no way around key cards in certain respects,” said Hamaguchi. “If you compare loading directly from a game cartridge (containing all game data) to loading from the Nintendo Switch 2’s internal storage, the load speed difference is roughly double. Some have expressed concern that multiplatform development may impose constraints not only on graphics but even on game design itself. However, this is precisely why we didn’t choose a cartridge.”
Hamaguchi also revealed some technical aspects by discussing how the game is designed around loading data into memory as needed. This would run counter to Nintendo Switch 2’s game cards, which focus on loading all game data upfront, and no further data being loaded over the course of a level. This, along with the fact that SSD and UFS storage options tend to offer faster read speeds, made the decision quite easy for the developers.
“Our game design isn’t built around loading all data upfront, with nothing further being loaded afterward,” Hamaguchi explained. “Even during gameplay, data is constantly swapped in and out, and given that premise, the loading speed from a game card would inevitably be insufficient, leading to stress for the player. In addition, with currently available cartridge capacity, there is the practical limitation that the full game data simply wouldn’t fit in the first place.”
“However, as long as we can secure the high-speed storage read speeds, such as SSD or UFS (on Switch 2), the design we’re aiming for becomes achievable within the scope of optimization for each platform. For the third game in the trilogy, we’re proceeding with development with the goal of delivering a large-scale experience similar to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, so please rest assured on that point.”
The Nintendo Switch 2 release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will be joined by an Xbox Series X/S launch. For more details on the latter, here is everything you need to know.
